Graduate Fashion Week winner knows the market

A fashion student who won big at Graduate Fashion Week is celebrating after landing a job at a top PR agency and graduating from the University of Central Lancashire (UCLan).

Anna Grundy, from Market Harborough in Leicestershire, was delighted to complete her BA (Hons) Fashion Promotion (with sandwich) degree after receiving a prestigious award in May.

The 22-year-old attributes her success to her four year sandwich course which allowed her to take a year’s placement at Beaverbrooks the Jewellers.

Anna said: “The course was great because it gave us the opportunity to take a placement in whatever area of fashion we were interested in. I really enjoyed the PR side of things so I worked in that area. I gained diverse skills from doing the year in a niche placement and that was one of my favourite things about the programme.”

From being a student at Wellingborough School in Northamptonshire, Anna knew she wanted to study fashion and even identified this course as the one she wanted to do.

"The course was great because it gave us the opportunity to take a placement in whatever area of fashion we were interested in"

She commented: “Since I was in Year 9 at school I’d done some research and knew exactly which course I wanted to do. I chose UCLan because I knew it offered the chance to do a placement within a reputable industry and I wanted to gain experience that would benefit my future career.”

With this valuable experience, Anna has successfully secured a graduate job at the PR agency at Weber Shandwick, in Manchester. Alongside her degree she was also the recipient of the Fashion Marketing Award at Graduate Fashion Week after her dissertation was selected and she was put on the shortlist because of her outstanding final project.

She said: “I was delighted to win the award which recognised the intense market research and analysis of trends I did for my final marketing plan. I was also the runner up in the Fashion Media category; it still hasn’t sunk in yet.”

The judges described Anna’s work as a “really polished, innovative campaign that could easily roll out tomorrow.”

Anna was one of a record-breaking 4,600 students who graduated in front of family and friends at Preston’s Guild Hall last week.